News
The mother of conscript Muhammed Murtazaev, who had served on the Moskva cruiser, was asked to sign documents stating her son died «as a result of an accident,» Novaya Gazeta Europe reports.
«We were told that my son was on the list of the missing servicemen. At the same time this information was not provided in writing. We also sent a request to the Military Commissariat of the Republic of Crimea and received an answer on April 29: «I notify you with regret that your son <...> Murtazaev Muhammed Serverovich, who had been conscripted into military service, went missing as a result of an accident on the GMC <guards missile cruiser> Moskva in the high seas on April 13, 2022 «, the woman said. She added that «at a meeting with the command, the relatives were told that the cruiser was in neutral waters and did not participate in hostilities.»
The mother of another killed conscript told the journalists that as she was trying to understand whether her son was considered dead or missing, she also received notices from the military registration and enlistment office which said: «We regret to inform you that your son is missing as a result of an accident.» The woman was asked to sign under the notices.
«They invite me to sign this statement and say there are witnesses who saw my son on the cruiser that day, but no one saw him disappear. I don't have it in my hands, I didn't even come to get it, I said I wouldn't sign anything. Still they call me and say that «three families have already signed such a statement, come over and write a statement too, so that you can go straight to court, without dragging it out for too long.» They didn't even ask me if I was ready to sign such a statement saying I voluntarily agree that my son was killed... Not even killed. It says «dead as a result of an accident» and does not specify he participated in the operation,» she said.
Agentstvo notes that because «the special operation» is not mentioned in those documents, families of the conscripts who died on the cruiser may not receive the insurance payment promised by Putin. In March, he announced that families of those killed in Ukraine would receive 7.4 million rubles each, as well as an additional payment of 5 million. Besides, families are supposed to receive monthly compensations.
On May 6 it was reported that the military prosecutor's office of the Russian Black Sea Fleet sent a letter to Dmitry Shkrebts, the father of conscript Yegor Shkrebts who went missing after the sinking of the Moskva cruiser. The man had asked for the whereabouts of his son, and he was told his son was «declared untraceably absent from the military unit.»
«The inspection showed that the ship on which E.D. Shkrebets served did not enter the territorial waters of Ukraine and was not included in the list of formations and military units involved in the special military operation. On 13.04.2022, during an emergency that resulted in the shipwreck, the latter went missing,» the reply said.
The message of the Ministry of Defense is in contradiction of what the Sevastopol authorities said earlier. On April 24, the city administration issued a statement about the governor's visit to the hospital where the sailors from the cruiser were treated. «Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozzhaev visited the Defense Ministry hospital in Omega. The lightly wounded fighters who participated in the special military operation in Ukraine are now undergoing rehabilitation there. Including the eight sailors from the Guards' Nakhimov Order missile cruiser Moskva, who are completing their treatment,» the report said.
On April 13, the Ukrainian side said it had struck the Moskva with Neptun missiles. On April 14, the Russian Defense Ministry said the Moskva was destroyed. Shortly before that, the ministry said that the «ammunition on the cruiser had detonated,» causing a fire on board.
After the report about the sinking of the cruiser, the parents of Shkrebets and other conscripts began searching for information about the survivors and those killed. According to Irina Shkrebets, they were denied access everywhere, and the unit commander refused to share information about Yegor with his parents.
On April 17, Dmitry Shkrebets posted on his VKontakte page that his son had been reported missing. The sailor's father accused the Russian Defense Ministry of lying about the venets on the ship, and his wife told The Insider she visited the hospital in Rocky Bay, where the wounded sailors from the cruiser had been brought. She said, she saw there approximately 200 injured sailors. According to the mother of the missing sailor, there were more than 500 people on the ship.